Yeah you have to plan ahead when you purchase overseas... At least in the US a lot of the bigger Ebay based Chinese importers are starting to open distribution houses in the US so that they can improve shipping speed... You might pay a bit more but shipping times are better, although in generally my delivery times from China are in the 10-14 day range so it's not all that bad... So that is another option to consider...
And on a last note, $5 shipping is likely CHEAP compared to what you will pay locally... RatShack charges $1 (or more) for 5 resistors, it doesn't take long to negate $5 in shipping cost...